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Fundraising and Donor Care

When you’re busy trying to raise funds for your cause, it can become very easy to get lost in any number of details and completely forget about those very people who will ultimately determine the success or failure of your efforts: the donors. Because if the donor doesn’t feel as though they are appreciated for their donation, it’s far less likely that they will donate to your cause a second time.

If your cause requires, say, donations to be made each year, getting donors to do so on a regular basis is crucial. Not to mention that it’s far easier to convince a previous donor to donate than it is to persuade one who has never donated. And unless you know what a donor is thinking, you are just guessing about the best way to care for them.

Listening

All too often, charities spend thousands of pounds on elaborate campaigns designed to inspire donations. But according to donors, not enough attention is placed on their suggestions. Even though they may not know anything about how your campaign is run, this can be a good thing. When the perspective comes from an individual who is completely uninvolved, this can yield much fruit in the way of new and maybe even unconventional ideas.

Reporting

A large amount of donors have a problem with the amount of information they get back following a campaign. It’s important to consider that many of your donors will give you something, but also expect something back in the form of information. How did your campaign do in comparison to last year’s? How many more will benefit from your campaign than did last year? When considering what information to provide, think in terms of the donor. They would want to know what they helped to do? Putting yourself in their shoes is a great starting point for quality communication.

Thanking

Have you thanked your donors? Believe it or not, they place a great deal of importance on this. Saying ‘thank you’ is an acknowledgement, but it’s also confirmation and validation. Donors need to know that their donation has not only been recognised, but that their contribution was received and that it is valuable to you. That being said, you can say ‘thank you’ in many ways; through words, with a small token of your appreciation, or by holding an event like a donor appreciation dinner. You can even do a combination of all of these. But this is definitely a crucial step in getting previous donors to donate again.

Transparency

These days, it seems transparency is king. Everyone wants to know what their governments, social services and other organisations are actually doing for the public, as well as how they are going to accomplish these tasks. This tack can benefit your fundraising efforts as well. In showing your donors that you have nothing to hide, you instantly help them to trust you more. And the more donors trust you, the more they will be inclined to reach into their wallets.

Finally, it’s a common myth among donors that you will always ask them for money. But you can ensure this base is covered by communicating how many times per year you plan to ask them for cash. Ensure that if you are sending them regular post or email newsletters that you remind them of the next time you plan to start or continue a campaign.

Today’s technology has many solutions for managing donor relationships. CRM solutions allow every interaction with donors to be recorded along with the results of those interactions so that you can fine-tune all of your fundraising efforts. And in following the above points, you can ensure that you build and nurture the kind of relationships with donors that results in regular and sizeable contributions to your cause.